Namecheap hosting review: Pros and cons in 2024
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BLUEPRINT
Published 4:06 p.m. UTC June 24, 2024
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Pros
- Some of the most affordable pricing on the market.
- Wide range of hosting products.
- Uptime guarantee of 100%.
Cons
- Only three server locations.
- No customer service over the phone.
- May incur extra fees for server management or content delivery network (CDN) access, depending on your package.
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Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of business products and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best product for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
- 17 companies reviewed.
- 1,568 data points analyzed.
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If you’re looking for a cheap hosting service, Namecheap will inevitably come up in your search since it offers some of the best pricing on the market. It’s best for website owners who have a primary audience near one of Namecheap’s server locations in the U.S., the U.K. or the European Union.
If you’re serving a customer base in another part of the world, you may want to look at alternatives. If you’re in one of those three markets, though, Namecheap has a wide range of products that can help meet your hosting needs for less.
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Namecheap overview
Namecheap started out as a platform to purchase domain names, but it evolved into a full-fledged hosting platform. It still allows you to register domains, but you can also get a wide array of web hosting services along with an integrated website builder.
Namecheap offers the top four types of web hosting: Shared hosting, hosting with WordPress integrations, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. It also offers reseller hosting plans.
Namecheap pros and cons
True to its name, Namecheap is, in fact, cheap. This is a pretty big pro, but as with any product, there are positives and negatives to the service.
Pros
The biggest pro is Namecheap’s pricing. It’s cheaper than almost any comparable product on the market, especially during the first year when you’re likely to see a promotional discount.
While it doesn’t have the fastest response times, Namecheap sites do perform within the realm of acceptability, meaning they’re generally not overly slow to load. Plus, Namecheap offers a 100% uptime guarantee with a wide range of hosting packages.
Cons
While most sites perform acceptably, Namecheap isn’t the fastest host around — especially when you purchase shared hosting. Part of the reason for that is that there are only three server locations across the world. Users who are farther away from these server locations may experience longer load times.
While base prices are low, you may find yourself shelling out extra cash for things like SSL certificates after the first year, CDN access or server management, depending on your plan. While there is 24/7 customer service available, there’s no phone number you can call. Everything’s done through ticket support and live chat.
Namecheap plan pricing and value
| STELLAR | STELLAR PLUS | STELLAR BUSINESS | |
|---|---|---|---|
Price
| $4.48 per month
| $6.48 per month
| $9.48 per month
|
Domain name
| Free or discounted domain
| Free or discounted domain
| Free or discounted domain
|
Number of websites
| Up to three
| Unlimited
| Unlimited
|
Storage
| 20 GB SSD
| Unmetered SSD
| 50 GB SSD
|
Email inboxes
| 30 mailboxes
| Unlimited mailboxes
| Unlimited mailboxes
|
Website builder
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
|
Support
| 24/7 live chat support
| 24/7 live chat support
| 24/7 live chat support
|
Namecheap’s plans are some of the cheapest on the market and each one includes a one-year SSL certificate, access to Namecheap’s Supersonic CDN and lifetime WHOIS privacy protection. Also, if you’re moving over from another hosting provider, Namecheap will ensure the migration happens in less than 24 hours.
All shared hosting plans also come with a free website builder and a discounted or free domain name. Whether it’s free or discounted will depend on the top-level domain (TLD) you choose. As far as features go, the base Stellar plan allows you to build up to three websites, have up to 30 email addresses and use up to 20 GB of SSD storage.
The Stellar Plus plan adds AutoBackup and comes with unlimited SSD storage, websites and email addresses. The largest shared hosting plan is Stellar Business. It restricts your hard storage to 50 GB SSD but adds cloud storage capacity.
If WordPress integration is a big deal for you, Namecheap does have EasyWP plans. They cost a little more than Stellar plans ($6.88 to $19.88 per month compared to $4.48 to $9.48 per month), but they do come with lower storage capacities. Additionally, only some of the EasyWP plans come with a free SSL certificate.
Both Stellar and EasyWP hosting options do come with the added benefit of a free, 30-day trial. You will have to provide a credit card, but if you cancel before the 30 days are up you won’t be billed.
Type of hosting
In addition to shared hosting and EasyWP hosting, Namecheap provides dedicated servers and VPS hosting. As your business and website traffic grow, you may find you need the speed and reliability of a dedicated server.
Namecheap does offer dedicated servers, but these hosting plans are significantly more expensive. You may also have to pay extra for things that come free with Stellar plans, like SSL certificates and access to the Supersonic CDN.
If you want more control and dedicated resources than a shared plan but don’t have the budget for a dedicated server, you may be interested in Namecheap’s VPS hosting plans. They cost $9.88 to $28.88 per month and include features like full root access, OS selection and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
By default, you’re in charge of server management, but you can pay an extra $10 or $25 per month for varying levels of support from Namecheap.
Performance and uptime
Namecheap advertises 100% server uptimes — even on shared hosting plans. Namecheap only has servers in three locations, which could prove problematic for some users as server proximity plays a large role in server response times. The three server locations are:
- Phoenix, Arizona, United States.
- Amsterdam, Netherlands, European Union (shared hosting only).
- Near Nottingham, England, United Kingdom (extra $1 per month fee).
Namecheap’s server speed is typically acceptable, but it’s not the fastest. It’s consistently outperformed by competitors like DreamHost and GoDaddy.
Bandwidth and storage
All Stellar plans come with unmetered bandwidth. You’ll want to be careful with the base Stellar plan, though. It doesn’t include automatic backups, which are of the utmost importance if you ever have to restore your site.
Automatic backups are also crucial for data protection, but they’re only available on Stellar Plus and Stellar Business plans if you opt for shared hosting.
Security features
SSL certificates are free if you have a shared hosting plan. Otherwise, Namecheap charges anywhere between $6.99 to $13.20 per year for certificate terms of one to five years. There are frequent promotional offers that make the first year cheaper. While Namecheap does have a free CDN option, if you pay for a Supersonic CDN, a CDN WAF (web application firewall) is included. The CDN WAF protects you from DDoS attacks.
Customer support
Regardless of which hosting plan you sign up for, you have two options when it comes to reaching out for customer support. First, you can submit a ticket. Namecheap says that it has representatives working on these tickets 24/7. Live chat is also always available, regardless of time of day. There is no phone support.
Namecheap vs. top competitors
More often than not, Namecheap is going to be your cheapest option. There are some competitors that don’t make you pay for as many add-ons, though, so you’ll want to run the math for your individual package before making any final decisions.
| PRICE OF SHARED HOSTING PLANS | PRICE OF WP INTEGRATED PLANS | PRICE OF VPS HOSTING PLANS | PRICE OF DEDICATED SERVER HOSTING PLANS | UPTIME GUARANTEE | GUARANTEE<br>SSL CERTIFICATE AND FIREWALL PROTECTION | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Namecheap | $4.88 to $9.48 per month | $6.88 to $19.88 per month | $9.88 to $28.88 per month | $53.88 to $265.88 per month | 100% | Yes, typically for an additional fee. SSL certificate free for first year with shared hosting packages | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 HostGator | $6.35 to $23.90 per month | $6.35 to $24.90 per month | $49.00 to $1,109.00 per month | $39.00 to $789.00 per month | 99% | Yes, for free | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 A2 Hosting | $12.99 to $29.99 per month | $25.99 to $61.99 per month | $8.99 to $239.99 per month | $279.99 to $749.99 per month | 99.90% | Yes; basic SSL certificates free with hosting package. Firewall not included with unmanaged hosting packages | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 DreamHost | $7.99 to $13.99 per month | $23.99 to $89.99 per month | $19.99 to $137.99 per month | $199.00 to $749.00 per month | 100% | Yes, for free | ||||||||
|
Namecheap vs MochaHost
While Namecheap charges for an SSL certificate if you’re not on a shared hosting plan, MochaHost doesn’t. It has SSL certificates for free with every package. MochaHost plans also include firewall protection. With many Namecheap plans, you’ll have to pay extra to get access to the CDN WAF.
Despite the extra fees you may run into, Namecheap’s base pricing is lower than MochaHost’s in most cases. MochaHost also doesn’t provide automatic backups on its shared hosting plans unless you pay for the most expensive package — $23.90 per month.
Namecheap vs A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting and Namecheap offer fairly comparable products, but at first glance, A2 Hosting is much more expensive. One thing to bear in mind is that if you do want your server managed by Namecheap, you’ll have to pay extra monthly fees, which can drive up the price to be more comparable with A2 Hosting.
Namecheap and A2 Hosting both offer 24/7 customer support, but A2 Hosting offers this support over the phone while Namecheap does not.
Namecheap vs DreamHost
Dreamhost is known to have faster response times than Namecheap. Its prices for self-hosted plans are only slightly more expensive than Namecheap, but you can start seeing a bigger difference when you move into WordPress, VPS or dedicated server hosting.
While there are several circumstances where you could find yourself paying extra money for an SSL certificate or firewall protection with Namecheap, those things are included for free in most circumstances with DreamHost.
Methodology
We extensively research the key competitors within an industry to determine the best products and services for your business. Our experts identify the factors that matter most to business owners, including pricing, features and customer support, to ensure that our recommendations offer well-rounded products that will meet the needs of various small businesses.
We collect extensive data to narrow our best list to reputable, easy-to-use products with stand-out features at a reasonable price point. And we look at user reviews to ensure that business owners like you are satisfied with our top picks’ services. We use the same rubric to assess companies within a particular space so you can confidently follow our blueprint to the best web hosting services of 2024.
Expert score (10%): We research and analyze key features of each company we consider for our rating, including critical factors to consumers (and particularly to small businesses). Chief amongst them is value, because it’s vital that you see an appropriate return for your money, but we also consider key features, support responsiveness and helpfulness, and a company’s reputation.
Value (32%): Small businesses are often very budget-oriented, and when every dollar counts, it’s important that you know you’re spending them wisely. We consider what resources and features a company offers compared to their pricing structure and how many of them are genuinely valuable and likely to be fully utilized by the majority of customers.
Features (45%): With so many web hosts offering similar core plans, features can be an important way for companies to stand out and add additional value. We consider things like app integration, security features, and bespoke features not offered by other hosts when evaluating each company.
Service and support (8%): Small businesses often need to be very flexible with their hours, which means they need customer support to be available as often as possible. We prioritize 24/7 support when evaluating companies and consider their responsiveness and helpfulness.
Customer reviews (5%): Part of evaluating a company’s reputation is by consulting customer review aggregators like Trustpilot and G2. We consider the overall impression of a company expressed by these sites, as well as individual reviews, and look for common issues and complaints, as well as areas where companies are frequently praised for exceptional service.
Featured web hosting offers
Bluehost
Price
Plans starting at $1.99 per month
Free domain included
Yes
HostGator
Price
Plans starting at $2.56 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Web.com
Price
Plans starting at $2.75 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Namecheap is a respectable hosting service. It’s not going to provide the absolute fastest speeds, but sites generally perform acceptably. There aren’t a whole lot of hosts that can beat Namecheap’s pricing, and every hosting package includes unlimited bandwidth.
Yes, Namecheap hosting plans all include a website builder. If you want to work with WordPress specifically, there are dedicated packages with WordPress integration.
Yes, you’ll have access to cPanel with your Namecheap hosting account.
Yes, Namecheap supports PHP. You can change PHP versions or update PHP extensions once you’re logged into your hosting account.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
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